System of Assisting Golfer in Body Stance Alignment Relative to Intended Golf Ball Target Line of Flight and Setting an Appropriate Golf Tee Height

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a system using a golf tee which has three arms, two of which extend in opposing directions orthogonal to, and from opposing sides of, the vertical shaft of the tee, and a third arm extending in the same place and orthogonal to the other two arms. The system is employed for alignment of a golf tee shot stance and swing, by setting the tee in the ground with the middle arm of the tee aligned with the line of intended golf ball flight to assist the golfer in taking a stance that promotes a line of flight for the ball along the target line; (ii) provides the golfer with a visual means of setting the tee in the ground to raise the ball to the desired height appropriate for desired ball distance travel.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application No.60/831,621, filed Jul. 18, 2006.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to novel golf tees and a system for using them.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Golf tees are almost always used by the golfer to “tee-up” (support thegolf ball above ground level to make the ball easier to hit with thecenter of the golf club face) the first shot taken for each hole fromthe tee box area. The distance for such initial shot is the greatest onany given hole; thus the golfer normally attempts to hit the ball as faras possible on such shot. On a typical par 4 or par 5 hole the firstshot is usually with a “driver” (largest head, longest shaft) golf club.On a typical par 3 hole, the distance to the green is shorter than thepar 4 or par 5 holes, and usually the driver is not the preferred clubfor the initial shot, but the golfer still tees up the ball for theselected (“shorter”) golf club. It is clear that if the initial shot hasany angle of misdirection relative to the target line of flight, theball would travel furthest from the desired path on such initial shot,as compared with subsequent shots, which generally do not travel as far.Accordingly, attaining the proper direction is most important for theinitial tee shot.

Golf magazine recently published (in its June, 2006 issue) an articleinstructing golfers that teeing the ball higher will generally causelonger ball flights when the new generation of large-headed drivers areused, and that golfers should start using the new, extra length teesimmediately. Golf tees are usually made of wood (though some are made ofplastic), and are essentially a low-cost “throw-away” item for thegolfer—frequently broken on the initial shots, and only used to hold theball for the initial shot, played from tee box. Due to the criticalnature of the initial shot, however, the small size and portability ofthe golf tee, and the fact that golfers carry many of them in theirbags, using a golf tee to aid the golfer in consistently teeing-up theball at a height appropriate to the chosen club (drivers typicallyperform better teeing the ball up high, while irons work better when theball is teed up lower to the ground) and playing conditions (golfersfrequently will tee the ball up lower if hitting into a wind, or othertimes when a lower ball flight path is sought) would be advantageous anddesirable. Using the golf tee to aid the golfer in consistentlypositioning their address stance parallel to the line of intended ballflight (towards the target) would also be advantageous and desirable

Teeing up the ball at a desired height more consistently for an intendedshot would be easier if the tee shaft was marked, thereby allowing thegolfer to set the tee relative to the ground level such that the ballwould be at the desired appropriate height as selected by the golfer.

The position of the teed up ball, relative to the front foot of thegolfer, is a key variable of the golf stance that affects the resultinggolf shot. Many golf teachers instruct their students to take a stancewith the driver that is just inside of their left heel (for right-handedgolfers), so that the club contact with the ball occurs at the positionof the swing that produces greater velocity. Golfers could benefit froma system that helps them to more accurately align their stance relativeto the ball.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Disclosed is a system using a golf tee which has three arms, two ofwhich extend is opposing directions orthogonal to, and from opposingsides of, the vertical shaft of the tee, and a third arm extending inthe same plane and orthogonal to the other two arms. The system isemployed for alignment of a golf tee shot stance and swing, by settingthe tee in the ground with the middle arm of the tee aligned with theline of intended golf ball flight to assist the golfer in taking astance that promotes a line of flight for the ball along the targetline; (ii) provides the golfer with a visual means of setting the tee inthe ground to raise the ball to the desired height appropriate for theclub selected, distance to the target, and playing conditions, based ona prior calibration of golf tee height to desired ball distance travel.The tee's vertical shaft is marked with a series of striations, with aknown distance between each striation (to allow setting ball height).

The golf tee can be made of any of a number of materials, includingpolymers, biodegradable polymers or aluminum. The golf tee's arms can bemolded with the tee shaft, where it is made of polymers or aluminum, orotherwise attached.

The golfer uses the tee's arms to align the stance and shot. The tee'sthree arms are located near the top of the tee, just below the cup thatholds the ball in place. The tee is placed in the ground with the middlearm pointing at the target. The golfer takes a stance for the swing withhis/her feet placed such that a line between the feet is parallel to theline from the tee to the target. The golfer's feet and body position orstance in thus aligned perpendicular to the two opposed arms, andparallel to the third arm, which is pointing directly towards thetarget. The tee would thus be situated so that the golf ball is struckon the side where none of the three arms face, to avoid interferencewith the club face striking the ball.

The golfer then shifts his feet into a comfortable swing position,keeping the feet oriented such that a line tangent to the tips of bothfeet is parallel to the direction of the middle arm of the tee (and theline of intended ball flight), and orthogonal to the two opposed arms ofthe tee. Thus, use of the tee helps the golfer position their feet (andtheir hips and shoulders) parallel to the line of intended ball flight(towards the target) to promote a swing path for the golf club thatsends the ball straighter down the target line at impact.

To employ the striations on the shaft to help adjust the ball traveldistance, the golfer must conduct a preliminary calibration. This can bedone readily at a driving range with distance markers. With the driver(or any other club to be used for tee shots), the user sets the ballheight (and also uses the alignment procedure described above), usingthe striations on the tee's vertical shaft. That is, if the lowermoststriation is at the ground level, the tee height is highest, and,similarly, if the uppermost striation (nearest the cup that holds theball) is at the ground level, the tee height is lowest. For each teeheight, the golfer takes a series of shots and determines the averagedistance traveled (based on markets on the driving range, or otherwise).In general, the higher the tee, the greater the distance traveled. Bycompiling the results of the calibration, the golfer can make a plot oftee height and distance traveled, which can be used, among other times,in the event that a less than maximum distance drive is desired (i.e.,hazard or bend in the fairway, for example).

The invention is described further below with reference to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a golf tee (with a ball in place) for use inthe system described herein.

FIG. 2 is a side elevated view of the golf tee of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view of a golfer using the golf tee of FIG. 1 in making ashot.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1 and 2 depict, respectively, a plan view and a side elevated viewof a tee 10 (with a golf ball 30 in place) suitable for use with thesystem described herein. Tee 10 has striations 12, 14, 16, and 18(depicted as evenly spaced, but they could also be in other relativepositions) on the vertical shaft 20, having opposed arms 22 and 24, andan orthogonal arm 26. A golf ball 30 is in place in a small cup (notshown) atop the vertical shaft 20.

FIG. 3 depicts a golfer 28 using the tee 10. The arm 26 is aligned withthe direction from the tee 10 to the pin (flag) 32, and the arms 22 and24 are orthogonal to the line running between golfer's feet. It can beseen that the golfer 28 has his feet, shoulders and hips aligned withthe target line.

In using the tee 10 for alignment of the golf shot and stance, thefollowing considerations come into play.

-   -   Club Selected—The golfer may want to tee the ball up higher for        shots with the driver, or lower if the club selected is, for        example, a smaller headed three wood, or even lower if the club        used were an iron or “rescue club”. The profile for most of the        current generation of new drivers is much taller than for other        golf clubs, such as rescue clubs or more lofted woods, and the        golfer would want to tee the ball up higher for hitting with        such drivers. Driver shots are typically played with the teed        ball positioned forward relative to the golfer's stance, while        teed iron shots are generally played with the ball further back        in the golfer's stance (more towards the middle of the stance,        between the two feet). The arms 22 and 24 (orthogonal to the        line running between golfer's feet) aid in aligning the position        of the ball relative to the feet.    -   Ball Trajectory—If a wind in effect and is in a direction not        aiding the desired ball flight path, the golfer may decide to        promote a lower trajectory for the shot by teeing the ball up        lower than would be the case under less windy conditions. If the        shot being teed up is the initial shot on a par 5 hole, where        the distance to the hole will generally require (at least) three        long shots by the golfer, the golfer will usually select the        driver club and will tee the ball up higher than if a shorter        ball flight is desired. If the fairways are wet from recent        rains, the golfer may decided to tee the ball higher than        normal, in an effort to promote a ball flight that travels        higher with more carry. On dry, hard fairways, the golfer may        decide to tee the ball lower than normal, in an effort to        promote a ball flight that travels lower with less carry, but        with more roll. The position of the ball relative to the        golfer's stance can also affect the ball is more towards the        back of the stance generally having a lower trajectory than        shots where the ball is more forward relative to the stance.    -   Distance to Target—The golfer may want to tee the ball up lower        for shots where the distance desired to be covered by the ball        flight using a particular club is less than the distance the        golfer normally hits that golf club with a higher tee position.        For example, on a short par 5 or a short par 4, the golfer may        decide to use the driver with the ball teed up lower than        normal. This may be needed to avoid a hazard on the course or to        leave a distance remaining for the next shot that is desired.

To use the striations on the tee shaft to achieve desired ball traveldistances, the golfer conducts a preliminary calibration. This can bedone most readily at a driving range with distance markers indicatingshot distance from the tee box. With the driver (or any other club to beused for tee shots), the user sets the tee height (and also uses thealignment procedure described above), based on the striations on thetee's vertical shaft. That is, if the lowermost striation is at theground level, the tee height is highest, and, similarly, if theuppermost striation is at the ground level, the tee height is lowest.For each tee height setting, the golfer takes a series of shots anddetermines the average distance traveled (based on markers on thedriving range, or otherwise). In general for a golf shot, a ball teed uphigher relative to the ground (so that the club face will contact theball higher up on the club face) will travel a greater distance thansimilarly hit ball teed lower relative to the ground (so that the clubface will contact the ball lower down on the club face). By compilingthe results of the calibration, the golfer can make a plot of tee heightand distance traveled for a given club, which can be used in the eventthat a less than maximum distance drive is desired (i.e., a hazard orbend in the fairway, for example). The golfer should take care duringthe calibration to avoid chaning the club face angle (as it contacts thegolf ball) appreciably from swing to swing, as that would affect thereliability of the calibration. That is, the club face should strike theball at the same angle of inclination and plane, and on the club facenear the center of gravity of the club head.

An exemplary calibration chart of shot distance against tee height (fora driver) would be similar to that shown in Table 1 below.

TABLE I Hypothetical Calibration Data for Driver Club Striation setting(ground level) 205 yards 215 yards 225 yards 235 yards 12 5 shots 3shots 1 shot 1 shot 14 3 shots 5 shots 1 shot 1 shot 16 2 shots 2 shots4 shots 2 shots 18 1 shot 1 shot 3 shots 5 shotsThus, it can be seen from Table 1 that with striation 12 set at groundlevel, using that same club as used for calibration, the shot could beexpected to usually travel about 205 yards, and similarly the likelydistance usually traveled can be seen for other striation settings.

It should be understood that the terms, expressions and examples usedherein are exemplary only, and not limiting, and that the scope of theinvention is defined only in the claims which follow, and includes allequivalents of the subject matter of claims. Process and method steps inthe claims can be carried out in any order, including the order setforth in the claims, unless otherwise specified in the claims.

1. A method of aligning ball travel direction on a golf tee shot, andfor setting a golf tee height such that the ball will travel close to adesired distance, comprising: providing a golf tee having a shaft forsupporting a golf ball, and three arms, two which extend in opposingdirections orthogonal to, and from opposing sides of, the shaft, and athird arm extending in the same plane orthogonal to the other two arms,said shaft being marked with a series of annular striations, with aknown distance between each annular striation; calibrating shot distanceagainst tee height based on aligning the striations, in sequence, withthe ground surface and conducting a series of shots with a particulargolf club at different striation alignments to thereby generate acorrelation between tee height and average shot distance for aparticular club; selecting a desired shot distance by placing the tee inthe ground with a particular striation aligned with the ground surfacebased on the calibration results; aligning the direction of the intendedline of flight for the golf ball by pointing the third arm directly atthe target, with two other arms thereby forming a line perpendicular tothe line to the target; and having a user take a stance relative to thetee with the user's feet positioned such that a line through a fixedpoint on the feet is about parallel to the line from the tee to thetarget and to the third arm, and so that the user's foot position is asdesired relative to a line formed by the two parallel arms.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the golf club is a driver, wood or iron. 3.The method of claim 1 wherein the calibration step is done at a drivingrange with markers indicating shot distances.
 4. The method of claim 1wherein the calibrations results are tabulated.
 5. The method of claim 1wherein for the longest desired shots, the alignment of the striationsprovides for the golf ball being furthest above the ground.
 6. Themethod of claim 1 wherein for the shortest desired shots, the alignmentof the striations provides for the golf ball being closest above theground.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the line formed by the twoparallel arms bisects a line between the user's feet.
 8. The method ofclaim 7 wherein for the longest desired shots, the line formed by thetwo parallel arms is closer to the user's foot nearer the target, andfor the shortest desired shots, the line formed by the two parallel armsis closer to the user's foot further from the target.
 9. The method ofclaim 1 wherein a golf ball is placed on the golf tee.
 10. The method ofclaim 9 wherein the golf ball is struck by the users with the golf club.